


Weight Off The Shoulders

by DashFlintceschi



Series: Mythological Creatures Alphabet Challenge [14]
Category: Bring Me The Horizon, You Me At Six
Genre: Dan's sick, Gen, Tom figures out why
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-16
Packaged: 2018-03-13 07:00:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3372131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DashFlintceschi/pseuds/DashFlintceschi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's something on Dan's back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Weight Off The Shoulders

**Author's Note:**

> N is for Nightmare.

When Tom and the Bring Me The Horizon guys see the You Me At Six guys for the first time in almost a year, the first thing they notice is that Dan does not look well. He’s lost a lot of weight, his skin looks waxy, and he has large purple circles under his eyes. Josh tells them quietly that Dan’s woken up screaming almost every night for the last five months. Whatever plagues him at night has him too scared to sleep, or eat, and his neck and his back are constantly in agony from the tossing and turning.

They’re all sympathetic, but like his bandmates, none of them know how to help, so they simply avoid the subject. Jordan and Nicholls take it upon themselves to cheer him up, drawing him into conversation and doing and saying anything they can think of to make him laugh. Dan knows what they’re doing, but he appreciates it, so he doesn’t call them out on it. Oli, Lee and Vegan crowd around a tablet, researching how to help him, even though they’re sure Dan’s bandmates have already done that. Can’t hurt to try again, though.

Tom does what he always does, wanders around taking photos of everything, joining in conversations as he passes. He actively avoids taking any photos of Dan, though. He reckons Dan knows how ill he looks, he doesn’t need any photos to remind him.

He accidentally catches Dan from the side as he takes a photo of Josh and Max a while later. He immediately goes to the gallery on the screen, intent on deleting it. He opens up the viewer, to make sure it’s the right one, and can’t help the weird choking noise he makes. The whole room goes silent as they turn to stare at him in concern and confusion. He stares at the screen for a few more seconds before slowly looking up at Dan with horrified eyes.

“You have something on your back,” is all he can manage to say, eyes darting to look over Dan’s shoulders in search of what he saw on his camera. Dan frowns in confusion as Oli goes to his brother and tilts his camera to take a look.

“Shit, what the fuck is that thing?!” He gasps, and Dan finally loses his cool. He strides across the room and snatches the camera from Tom’s hands, almost dropping it, making Tom whimper, as he turns it to look at the screen. He stares at it blankly for a few seconds, then look up at Tom with tears in his eyes.

“What the fuck is it?” He whimpers, overly aware of the horrifying, grey, clawed creature on his back, even though he can’t feel it or even see it without a camera. Jordan pipes up from across the room, coming over with the tablet in his hand.

“Is this it?” He asks softly, turning the tablet to show them a picture. They nod quickly, and he sighs. “It’s a Nightmare. They cling to your back and feed from your fear. They usually don’t stay very long, it’s difficult for them to find people with enough fear for something to keep them fed for long. It’s only stuck with you for so long because you have something that really terrifies you, enough to keep it fed for a long time, it’s the reason for the pain in your back and neck. You can’t feel it, but it’s still weighing you down,” he reads from the tablet, and Dan nods.

“How do I get rid of it?” He asks softly, and Jordan gives him a sympathetic smile.

“You have to overcome your fear. The only way to make it leave is to cut off its food supply,” he tells him, and Dan gulps, but nods anyway.

It takes a few hours, but Lee manages to get what they need. He comes back with a cardboard box with air holes in it, and Dan whines softly in fear at just the sight of it. Lee gives him a sympathetic look as he sits down beside him and opens the end of the box. He gives Dan a questioning look, and he nods, lifting shaky hands to the opening. Lee tilts the box slightly and the Mexican Redknee Tarantula inside slides out and lands on Dan’s trembling hands.

It’s alright, he’s not poisonous, he won’t bite, either. They have barbs in their abdomens, but they only use those when they feel threatened. There’s nothing to be scared of,” he soothes as the tarantula; the pet of one of Lee’s friends; wanders slowly over Dan’s hands. “His name’s Dante, Nick said he’s really docile, and used to being handled, he’s never uses his barbs, even when Nick drops him, so don’t worry,” he continues, and Dan relaxes slightly, the fact that it has a name somehow calming to him.

As Dante wanders up onto Dan’s wrist, he slowly lifts his other hand and lightly trails his fingertips along Dante’s back.

“He’s not as big as I’d thought he’d be,” he mumbles, gaining confidence as he pets Dante more.

“The females are slightly bigger, but not much,” Lee comments, but Chris clears his throat.

“It’s because you were scared. They reckon the more frightened you are, the bigger they look,” he informs them, and Dan nods.

They’re quiet for a while, watching Dan as he pets Dante, who plods up and down his forearm, never going further up than his elbow. After half an hour or so, he looks up at Tom, a slight smile on his face.

“Can you check, please?” He asks softly, looking back down at Dante as the flash goes off on Tom’s camera. There’s a few seconds of tense silence as he checks the photo.

“It’s gone,” he announces finally, and there’s a unanimous sigh of relief. Lee reaches out to put Dante back in the box, but Dan pulls away from him.

“Can I keep him a little longer? He’s pretty cool,” he asks, and Lee grins.

“Sure, we’ve got another hour until I said I’d get him back to Nick,” he tells him, and Dan smiles, which widens as Dante lifts two of his legs so Dan can stroke his belly.

None of them can help their grins an hour later at Dan’s reluctance to give Dante back. They’d hoped he’d get over his fear, so seeing him so attached is kind of adorable. Tom continues taking endless photos as the night goes on, and there’s no sign of the nightmare again, near Dan or anyone else.

Dan sleeps peacefully that night, but none of them get their hopes up. They know for sure he’s going to be fine the next afternoon, though. They’re sitting in the living room area of the tour bus when Dan comes out of the bunk room, his hands cupped together in front of him. They frown at him in confusion, and he grins as he opens his hands to show them.

“Found this little bugger in my bunk,” he says as he reveals the medium sized spider in his hands. As he calmly goes to the door to deposit the spider outside, the rest of them quietly grin to themselves as they realise he’s going to be absolutely fine.


End file.
